What does it take to become a pro pickleball player? It’s a question that seems to be on the minds of many, as pro qualifiers accounted for 16% of all PPA Tour registrants in 2024—up from 7% in 2023.

The United Pickleball Association is attempting to answer that query by introducing a new marker of pro status: the Gold Card.  

What does a Gold Card do? Who gets one?

The Gold Card gives players automatic entry into the main draw at every PPA event. It also confirms their eligibility to compete for a Major League Pickleball team.

All UPA-signed players will begin 2025 with a Gold Card and keep it for as long as they fulfill their contractual requirements.

Obviously, having that marker is important because it allows players to avoid competing in the ever-expanding qualifying draws. There are two ways to become eligible for a contract and a Gold Card.

• 1.     Having success on the recently announced PPA Tour Challenger Series
• 2.     Earning a top-30 PPA ranking in either mixed doubles or gender doubles
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Are Gold Cards used in other sports?

Yes, in golf. Golfers must earn a Tour Card to compete on the PGA Tour and avoid having to qualify for PGA events.

Most aspiring pros begin in the Korn Ferry Tour, which was designed as a pathway for golfers looking to make it to the PGA Tour.

The top 20 finishers at the end of each season on the Korn Ferry Tour receive PGA Tour Cards, which give them the chance to compete on golf’s biggest stages. There are also other ways to earn a Tour Card, which you can read about here.

We can think of the PPA Challenger Series as the Korn Ferry Tour, with the top finishers in each discipline at the season-ending PPA Challenger Dallas Showdown becoming eligible for a Gold Card.

This format—which we haven’t seen before in pickleball—doesn’t come without its complexities, however.       

Early questions:

What does competition look like for players without Gold Cards?

Players without Gold Cards must go through the qualifying rounds, no matter their ranking.

This is already creating some intriguing scenarios ahead of next week’s Zimmer Biomet Masters.

Riley Newman/Vivian Glozman, who would normally be a top-15 seed in the main draw, will have to play through mixed doubles qualifying because Glozman is unsigned and does not have a Gold Card.

We have a similar situation with Grayson Goldin, who currently sits at No. 22 in the PPA men’s singles rankings.

Because he, like Glozman, does not possess a coveted Gold Card, he will have to work his way through qualifying for singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles.

He voiced some of his concerns about the new standard on Twitter.

However, there are merits to this system. Earning a Gold Card is a finite, tangible goal for aspiring pros to work towards. And with the PPA Challenger Series launching this year, there is now more than one way to achieve that coveted status.

What are your thoughts on the Gold Card? Is Goldin right? Should a lower-ranked player with a Gold Card make the main draw over higher-ranked player without one? Let us know your thoughts on Instagram and Twitter/X.